Chapel regrets that nonprofit won’t open

To the editor:

Over the past two years I have spoken with many organizations for elderly and disabled individuals in Anchorage and the Valley about Lighthouse Chapel opening a nonprofit lumberyard and furniture/cabinet shop located adjacent to the chapel.

We had plans to eventually expand this service to auto repair, farming and other areas as space and money allowed. The wood shop and lumberyard was scheduled to open early this summer. With deepest regret, we have been forced to delay or cancel the project completely due to the recent upgrade by the Mat-Su Borough of Bear Street. The recent upgrade of the street has placed us in a position of having to excavate the property, reconstruct and/or relocate. As we are a nonprofit that pays taxes, this could take an extended period of time.

Some may wonder what we have done to try to mitigate the situation. Here are those facts. At the time the road was being upgraded, I spoke — to no avail — with the borough engineer about my concerns of loosing full road excess to that part of the property. Since then I have contacted the governor, state senators and assemblymen, and others who had an influence on changing the road to restore full excess to the section of the property.

In the end, there was either no answer from the agencies or the response was they had no authority to require the borough to install a legal road. At the same time I would like to thank those who provided guidance and encouragement during this struggle, including people from the borough, Matanuska Electric Association staff who wish to remain nameless, friends and associates who suggested different courses of action.

Some may view this as a case of David and Goliath, only this time Goliath won. Somehow I view the situation more as a case of Joseph, where the actions of a few who thought they were doing something to hinder, only expedited another event God had in mind in the first place. In the short-term, Joseph’s brothers appear to have won.

However, God has much bigger plans that we often do not see. When I was called to the ministry, my first response was to ignore the call. For many years I lived a secular life, and in the midst of this, learned many trades. One day I realized that I could no longer ignore the calling into the ministry. Looking back on all those years, I began to realize that God had for some reason wanted me to go through them. In the end, I realized those skills were to be a part of the ministry.

At the last supper Jesus, makes it crystal clear that a minster is a servant, not the served. A minister’s job is to help the community where and how he can, using the abilities, talents and resources that God gives him. With this in mind, I realized that even with all the tribulations my family and I have faced in recent history, God has given us the ability and resources to serve the community in the construction-related area. Like Joseph, I am unsure exactly what God has in mind, but I do know and have faith in him that this will all work out for the greater glory of God.

Three times in my life I have been faced with situations where what appeared to be great careers came to a crashing end, and in each case I asked God why. Each time there was a bigger plan God saw that I did not, and I believe this is just such a situation.

Once again, on behalf of the volunteer staff and congregation of Lighthouse Chapel, I extend our deepest regrets of the loss of this community nonprofit service that was planned.

If Lighthouse Chapel can provide this service at a future date, we will make an announcement.

Mike Blodgett

Wasilla